English 4W: Scientific Form and Literary Inquiry Syllabus & Class Policy Sheet, Spring 2014

Instructor: Jay Jin Email: [email protected] Classroom: Bunche 3143 Office Humanities A86 & Time: M W 10-11:50 am & Hours: M W 1-2 pm, and by appointment

Required Texts

Wallace Stevens, Harmonium (Course Reader) Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Norton Critical 2nd Edition) Frank Herbert, Dune Philip K. Dick, Ubik Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo

Course Description English 4W focuses on developing critical reading and writing skills. By looking at a variety of literary genres (poetry, short stories, the novel, drama), we will practice strategies of close reading and devote serious attention to connecting our close readings with the process of constructing a compelling, well-supported argument. In other words, we will focus on the mantra that good reading leads to good writing.

The theme of this course is “Scientific Form and Literary Inquiry” and we will be looking at various intersections between science and literature in both form and content (what C.P. Snow famously called “the two cultures”). The poetry unit will be used to get us accustomed thinking about form—how texts are written, structured, and organized are equally important in producing meaning. Many of the novels are works of “science fiction” or “speculative fiction” and present an obvious thematic relationship between science and literature. However, they also reveal interesting formal qualities and questions as well. For us as writers, and just as thinking human beings in general, this is important because it emphasizes the sometimes mundane point that how we present an argument is just as important as the argument itself. This is not just a matter of trying to be convincing or compelling—rhetoric and the medium of communication always informs and inflects how we interpret.

Assignments & Grading Participation: 20% This means not only attendance and coming to class with the assigned texts for that day, but also coming to class prepared to ask questions and to engage with other students in discussion. Unexcused absences will obviously affect your participation grade negatively. Get to know your fellow classmates—there will be enough group activities throughout the quarter to do so. As a general policy I do not hand out my class notes, you will need to get them from another student. I am always happy to talk about class during office hours, however.

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Weekly Assignments: 10% There will be weekly assignments beginning Week 1, and they will be varied throughout the quarter. A majority of them will be writing exercises and assignments regarding the secondary reading, though as formal paper deadlines near there will be thesis exercises, etc. There will also be in-class writing assignments, which will give you an opportunity to strengthen writing skills and to get peer feedback. These writing assignments will be graded based on completion, but you must complete all assignments to get passing credit. Missing just one will cause this portion of your grade to be a F. Missing more than one will cause this portion of your grade to be a 0. I reserve the right to give quizzes without warning if I feel that students are not reading the material. The best way to avoid this is to do the reading, and be prepared to contribute in class.

Creative Writing Assignment: 10% For the poetry section, instead of writing a paper you will be writing your own poem modeled on a poem discussed in class. More details to follow.

Paper 1: 20% Paper 2: 40% You will write 2 academic papers over the course of this quarter; the first paper is 4-5 pages. This paper will be due 5pm on the day, time stamped and handed into the English Main Office with both your name and my name on the front page to ensure that it will reach my mailbox. You may also choose to hand it in at the beginning of class that day. Late papers will be penalized by a 1/3 of a grade for every day, including weekends. Any paper turned in later than five days will get an automatic F. I do not look over drafts of papers before the deadline, although I am happy to look at introductory paragraphs.

For the second paper, you will have the choice of either writing on a new work, or of revising an older paper. If you choose to revise an older paper, you will need to turn in a portfolio of the original paper, the revised copy, and a 2-page explication of what changes you made, and why you made them. The second paper, regardless of what option you choose, should be 6-7 pages in length. No papers prompts will be given, you need to run paper ideas by me during office hours.

Grading Policy The first paper will be handed back with comments, but the grade will not be given on the paper. Instead, each paper will be given an arbitrary symbol. The purpose of this is to dissociate the immediate reception of comments from systematized grading, and therefore to dissociate (as much as possible in an institutional setting) the development of writing skills from a series of letters. I’d like you to focus on the comments and to come in and talk about the specifics about your papers. I will email out what grades correspond to what symbols a week or so after the paper is returned.

Other Policies Office Hours You are all required to meet with me in office hours at least once in the first two weeks of the quarter. This will help me not only remember your names, but to get a better sense of how to organize the class as the quarter moves on. You are also required to meet with me to 2 discuss the topic of your formal papers. If you cannot make it to office hours, let me know and we can schedule an alternative time.

Plagiarism Don’t plagiarize, just don’t do it, not even a little. Representing the ideas, thoughts, or works of someone else as your own is a serious offense. It undermines the university value of academic integrity and is simply poor scholarship. You can also go to www.studentgroups.ucla.edu/dos/students/integrity for reference. Any instances of plagiarism will receive a zero, and you will be reported to the Dean of Students for further investigation. This is an unpleasant process for everyone.

Technology A good bulk of the reading in this class will be in the form of pdfs, uploaded to CCLE, so I will allow tablets, e-readers, and mini-tablets to be used in class. However, I highly recommend that you print out the readings regardless in order to take notes. This will be particularly helpful during the poetry unit. No laptops, obviously no phones, and no tablet keyboards. Sorry, you will still have to bring a notepad and a pen/pencil to take notes.

Email The best way to get in touch with me is through email. I will do my best to respond within 24 hours, excluding weekends. If you send an email Friday evening, don’t expect a response until Monday. Also, please keep in mind that I won’t respond to emails about papers the day before a paper deadline. This is because I want you to be thinking about and working on your paper reasonably beforehand, as much as possible.

Student Resources OSD If you wish to request an accommodation due to a suspected or documented disability, please inform your instructor and contact the Office for Students with Disabilities as soon as possible at A255 Murphy Hall, (310) 825-1501, (310) 206-6083 (telephone device for the deaf). They can also be accessed at www.osd.ucla.edu

Student Writing Center The Student Writing Center offers one-on-one sessions. The center is staffed by peer learning facilitators (PLFs), undergraduates who are trained to help at any stage in the writing process and with writing assignments from across the curriculum. Locations: A61 Humanities; Reiber 115 (for dorm residents only). Phone: (310) 206-1320. Website: www.wp.ucla.edu

Counseling and Psychological Services Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is a valuable campus resource for self-care. From the website: “In the broadest terms, the mission of CAPS is to promote academic achievement and reduce attrition and impediments to academic success. In carrying out this charge, our mission is three-fold and reflects the needs of a diverse campus community: (1) to promote positive personal growth and self-management by UCLA students; (2) to assist students in coping with increasingly complex and stressful emotional crises, trauma, and mental health issues, which may interfere with academic and personal functioning; and (3) to 3 enhance the psychological well being and safety of the campus community.” Website: http://www.counseling.ucla.edu

Week 1 Introduction to Poetry [Mon. 3/31] Introduction to class

[Wed. 4/2] Scansion & Meter Alfred Tennyson, “Ulysses” Ezra Pound, “In a Station of the Metro” Secondary Reading: Angela Leighton, On Form: Poetry, Aestheticism, and the Legacy of a Word (Oxford, 2007). Ch. 1: “Form’s Matter: A Retrospective” (p. 1-29)

Week 2 Poetic Form & Harmonium [Mon. 4/7] Sonnets, Sestinas, and Villanelles Shakespeare, “Sonnet 14,” “Sonnet 71,” “Sonnet 73,” “Sonnet 76” Rupert Brooke, “Sonnet Reversed” Edna St. Vincent Millay, “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed” W.B. Yeats, “Leda and the Swan” Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art,” “Sestina,” “A Miracle for Breakfast” Sylvia Plath, “Mad Girl’s Love Song” Anthony Hecht, “The Book of Yolek”

[Wed. 4/9] Harmonium “Earthy Anecdote” to “The Comedian as the Letter C” & “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” Secondary Reading: W.R. Keast, “Wallace Steven’s ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’”

Week 3 Harmonium cont. [Mon. 4/14] Harmonium cont. “From the Misery of Don Joost” to “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” Creative Writing Assignment Due 4/14

[Wed. 4/16] Harmonium cont. “The Cuban Doctor” to “To the Roaring Wind” Creative Writing Workshop Secondary Reading: Introduction from Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism

Week 4 Introduction to Prose Fiction, Frankenstein [Mon. 4/21] Frankenstein Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; pp. 1-60 (Vol. 1) Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”

4 [Wed. 4/23] Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; pp. 61-105 (Vol. 2) Secondary Reading: Stephen Potts, “A Tale of Two Cultures: Science Studies and Science Fiction”

Week 5 Frankenstein/The Handmaid’s Tale [Mon. 4/28] Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; pp. 107-161 (Vol. 3) Secondary Reading: George Levine, “Frankenstein and the Tradition of Realism”

[Wed. 4/30] Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale; pp. 1-106

Week 6 The Handmaid’s Tale, concluded [Mon. 5/5] Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale; pp. 107-195 Paper #1 Due 5/5

[Wed. 5/7] Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale; pp. 196-311 Secondary Reading: Dominick M. Grace, “‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: ‘Historical Notes’ and Documentary Subversion

Week 7 Life of Galileo [Mon. 5/12] Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo; pp. 1-60 (Scenes 1-7)

[Wed. 5/14] Bertolt Brecht, Life of Galileo; pp. 61-109 (Scenes 8-15) Secondary Reading: Joseph Vogl, “Becoming-media: Galileo’s Telescope”

Week 8 Ubik [Mon. 5/19] Philip K. Dick, Ubik; pp. 1-116 (Ch. 1-8)

[Wed. 5/21] Philip K. Dick, Ubik; pp. 117-227 (Ch. 9-17) Secondary Reading: Peter Fitting, “‘Ubik’: The Deconstruction of Bourgeois SF”

Week 9 Dune [Mon. 5/26] Memorial Day Holiday (No class)

[Wed. 5/28] Frank Herbert, Dune; pp. 1-324 (Book One) Secondary Reading: Guy J. Consolmagno, “Astronomy, Science Fiction and Popular Culture: 1277 to 2001 (and Beyond)”

5 Week 10 Dune, Concluded [Mon. 6/2] Frank Herbert, Dune; pp. 327-587 (Book Two)

[Wed. 6/4] Frank Herbert, Dune; pp. 591-794 (Book Three) Paper #2 Due 6/6

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